Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Maori Haka

The Maori are the native people of New Zealand. They are a proud and fierce culture and are very well known for their extensive traditional tattoos. Something else they are known for is the haka, a form of dancing that most people recognize as the war dance and chant performed by Maori warriors before a battle to intimidate their enemies and invoke their god of war.

Today, most people know the haka as made famous by the All Blacks, New Zealand's rugby union team, who perform it before all international matches. Here are some cool videos of the hunky rugby players:

This last one is utterly adorable. I showed it to one of my favorite authors, Nalini Singh, and she loved it so much she posted it on her blog.